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Sen. Stacey Campfield, in a blog post, on the effort by Newt Gingrich’s campaign to deny him a seat as a Gingrich delegate to the Republican National Convention:Instead of playing it straight up and doing the work of a few phone calls a few weeks ago, The night before the SEC set the delegates for the campaigns, the Gingrich campaign decided to play cutesy and sent out a media blast asking the SEC not to seat me. By that time all the Santorum delegates were set.
The Gingrich campaign waited so long to do anything it would have left me nowhere to go (I guess this was the plan). They then made it worse by going public instead of talking to me about it one on one. They attacked me and mislead people about what I had said. It would have been a pretty good political “gotcha” except for one thing. The SEC came out and said while it might be possible to replace me without losing the delegate (in contrast to previous understanding) it was completely up to me. Not them.
Oopsie. Not a good way to ingratiate yourself to the one person who can help you.
Sen. Stacey Campfield, writing in his blog, on the effort by Newt Gingrich’s campaign to deny him a seat as a Gingrich delegate to the Republican National Convention:
(Note: Previous post HERE. Gingrich campaign’s letter to the SEC is HERE).

Newt Gingrich’s presidential campaign has asked that state Sen. Stacey Campfield not be seated as a Tennessee delegate to the Republican National Convention, even though he won election as a delegate in Super Tuesday voting.
The request was made in a letter to the Republican State Executive Committee. But Adam Nickas, executive director of the state Republican party, says it would be “more appropriate” to challenge Campfield before a Republican National Committee credentials committee, not the state organization.
As far as state-level Republicans are concerned, Nickas says, Campfield is a duly-elected delegate for Gingrich, unless and until he resigns. Campfield has not resigned.
Campfield served as co-chairman of Gingrich’s campaign, but then resigned that post and endorsed Rick Santorum for the Republican presidential nomination on the weekend before Tennessee’s Super Tuesday voting. Santorum led all candidates in Tennessee’s March 6 voting and, according to the state GOP’s official count, will be entitled to 29 of the 55 delegates decided by the voting.
Mitt Romney finished second, entitled to 17 delegates, while Gingrich was third and gets nine Tennessee delegates, based on the final state party’s determination.
The Republican SEC meets Saturday to formally designate Santorum delegates, since no one was on the ballot as a Santorum delegate and to appoint delegates who were not elected – typically prominent Republican elected officials.
Campfield said today that he was asked to resign by a Gingrich campaign official, but replied that he understood resignation would mean Gingrich loses a Tennessee delegate. He also said the told the official he wa open to looking at other options. The official, the senator said, told him, “We’ll get back to you,” but never did.
Actually, says Nickas, if Campfield resigned, the Gingrich campaign could fill his slot with an alternative delegate and not lose one of the nine delegates the former House speaker won in Tennessee’s Super Tuesday.
Campfield said he is prepared to go to the convention as a Gingrich delegate and vote for Gingrich on the first two ballots, just as party rules require. The senator says the Santorum campaign has offered him a seat as a Santorum delegate.

Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich, campaigning in East Tennessee on the eve of the state’s Super Tuesday primary, touted his plan to reduce gas prices as the type of fundamental change that must be made in Washington.
From Georgiana Vines report on Knoxville doings:Speaking to some 400 shouting and whistling supporters at the Hilton adjacent to McGhee Tyson Airport on Monday, the former U.S. House speaker said his plan to have American energy independence by using federal land and offshore drilling would produce enough oil to get the price of gas down to $2.50 and probably lower.. He said for 10 years this country’s policies toward the Middle East and its oil production have not worked.
Gingrich, who polls show is gaining ground on Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum in Tennessee, said the nation needed to use its undeveloped oil reserves. As an example, he said there was private property in North Dakota he’d like to show to President Barack Obama where there was enough oil to double known reserves.
“If you can find it in North Dakota, let’s take Alaska,” he said. “Tell ’em Newt!” was on person’s response in the crowd, many of whom were waiving “Newt = $2.50” signs.
See also Hank Hayes on Newt’s Kingsport rally, where the focus was also on gas prices.

News release from Public Policy Polling:
The news is good for Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich and bad for Rick Santorum in PPP’s final polls of the three biggest Super Tuesday states.
In Ohio Romney leads with 37% to 36% for Santorum, 15% for Gingrich, and 11% for Ron Paul.
In Tennessee Santorum leads with 34% to 29% for Romney, 27% for Gingrich, and 8% for Paul.
In Georgia Gingrich leads with 47% to 24% for Romney, 19% for Santorum, and 8% for Paul.
A week ago Santorum had a huge lead in Tennessee, a decent sized one in Ohio, and seemed like he had a good chance for second in Georgia. Now he’s barely holding on in Tennessee, ever so slightly behind in Ohio, and seems doomed for third in Georgia.

The co-chairman of Newt Gingrich’s Tennessee campaign changed his allegiance Saturday to Rick Santorum, saying he hopes to set an example that leads to conservatives aligning behind a single candidate against “establishment Republican” Mitt Romney.
State Sen. Stacey Campfield’s surprise move comes with Santorum leading in Tennessee polls though under attack within the state from both pro-Romney forces and Gingrich in a frenetic finale of candidate competition for votes in Tuesday’s presidential preference primary.
The presidential campaign had been somewhat sedate in Tennessee until last week, when the three leading Republican candidates ramped up their efforts with television ads, radio ads, phone call banks, direct mail, a swarm of surrogate campaigners – Gov. Bill Haslam leading the way for Romney – plus some personal campaigning.
Romney visits Knoxville today while Gingrich plans a campaign trip through East Tennessee state Monday.
Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, traveled through the state last week, including a stop in Nashville where he had a Wednesday evening meeting with about 20 Republican legislators, according to state Rep. Bill Dunn of Knoxville, who arranged the gathering as the only state legislator publicly backing Santorum at the time. Eleven legislators have subsequently joined Dunn as official Santorum backers.

State Sen. Stacey Campfield, co-chairman of Newt Gingrich’s campaign in Tennessee, announced today he is quitting that position to support Rick Santorum in the Republican presidential race.
The Knoxville Republican made his announcement in a post on his blog. In an interview, Campfield said he believes that conservatives need to unite behind a single candidate and that Santorum is best positioned to defeat “establishment Republican” candidate Mitt Romney.
Campfield’s decision comes after a conversation with Santorum earlier this week.
In his blog post, Campfield said he was “twisted inside because of my loyalty to Newt, my loyalty must first lie with my country and getting a country with a conservative leader must take precedence to my own personal whims of fancy.
:Therefore, As of now, I am stepping down as the statewide co chairman for Newt Gingrich and throwing all of my support behind Rick Santorum,” he wrote.
State Rep. Tony Shipley, R-Kingsport, who until now has shared the co-chairman title with Campfield in the Gingrich Tennessee campaign, said Campfield’s move was “unfortunate.” He otherwise declined to comment, saying the two need to maintain a “working relationship in the legislature.”
“I’m not going to talk about Stacey. I love him. He’s a friend of mine,” said Shipley.

Cain Raises Cane for Gingrich
Herman Cain, no longer in the race for the Republican nomination for president, brought his charismatic style to Williamson County on Friday night in hopes of drumming up votes for Newt Gingrich, the Tennessean reports.For an audience of fewer than a hundred, he stumped fervently on Gingrich’s behalf while also taking shots at President Barack Obama, the media and the “character assassination” that forced him from the contest — all of which played well with the crowd.
“Today, we have a dishonest president,” Cain said, wrapping up his unscripted remarks. “There. I said it.”
The rally in downtown Franklin was part of a tour with one of the candidate’s daughters, Jackie Gingrich Cushman, that will take them into Chattanooga, Cleveland and Knoxville over the weekend.The Candidates Are Here!
The Tennessean rounds up some of the campaigning afoot in Tennessee:Newt Gingrich is coming back to Tennessee after surrogate visits by his daughter and former rival Herman Cain. Mitt Romney is coming through for the first time, following on the heels of another former presidential contender who’s in his camp.
A group of socially conservative women barnstormed on a bus tour Friday for Rick Santorum. And supporters of Ron Paul continue to play their ground game.
As the four remaining Republican candidates enter the final weekend before Tennessee holds its presidential primary Tuesday, their campaigns are taking different approaches to sealing the deal in the Volunteer State, which could play a significant role in the results of the 11-state bonanza known as Super Tuesday.
“The two key ones are Ohio and Tennessee,” political analyst Howard Fineman of Huffington Post said on MSNBC’s Hardball earlier this week.The Whirlwind in Knoxville
Georgiana Vines has observations from Knoxville Republicans caught up in the “whirlwind” of pre-Super Tuesday presidential politicking. For example:“Tennessee isn’t used to being in the crossfire. Everybody is so new to it,” said Daniel Dunn, a local spokesman for the campaign of Rick Santorum, the former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania who came to Knoxville on Wednesday.And some political junkie stuff from outside our fair state:GOP Superdelegates Sit and WaitThe Associated Press has polled 106 of the 117 so-called superdelegates — members of the Republican National Committee who will automatically attend the party’s national convention this summer and can support any candidate for president they choose, regardless of what happens in the primaries.
The results: Romney got 23 endorsements, far more than anyone else but a modest figure for the candidate many consider the front-runner. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich got four endorsements while former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and Texas Rep. Ron Paul each got two.
Seventy-five RNC members were either undecided or not ready to make a public endorsement.The Santorum Disorganization
WILLOUGHBY, Ohio (AP) — Rick Santorum’s advisers outlined a new strategy for staying on message in the hours after he lost to Mitt Romney in Michigan’s Republican presidential primary. Just as quickly, the strategy fell by the wayside.
It was a victim of the disorganization that’s marked the Santorum campaign and raised questions about his ability to compete against Mitt Romney over the long haul.
Full story HERE.

By Steve Peoples, Associated Press
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Short on money and staff, Rick Santorum needs help to remain a viable threat to front-runner Mitt Romney in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. One strategist hopes it will come from another rival, Newt Gingrich.
Top adviser John Brabender says Santorum’s future may depend upon Gingrich leaving the race. The former House speaker is showing no signs of bowing out, certainly not before next week’s Super Tuesday voting.
“If we could ever make this where we have all the conservatives and tea party supporters behind us as one candidate against Mitt Romney, we’ll win the nomination,” Brabender said Wednesday as the Santorum campaign recalibrated after finishing a disappointing second in Michigan’s primary.
Santorum and Gingrich are appealing for support from the same bloc of conservative voters. In Michigan, where Gingrich didn’t actively compete, the former speaker earned more than 6 percent of the vote. Romney beat Santorum by roughly 3 percentage points.
As Super Tuesday nears, Gingrich’s campaign is focusing on Georgia, the state he represented in Congress for 20 years, and a handful of other delegate-rich states. A Gingrich spokesman confirmed Wednesday that there’s been no pressure from Santorum’s camp to leave the race.
Santorum went out of his way to compliment the former House speaker Wednesday at a rally in Knoxville, Tenn., as he recalled the impact of President Ronald Reagan and others early in his political career.

News release from Gingrich Tennessee campaign:
Franklin, TN – Gingrich 2012 announced a two day Tennessee bus tour in support of Speaker Gingrich’s campaign. The tour begins in Franklin, TN on Friday March 2 and moves to East Tennessee with stops in Chattanooga, Cleveland and Knoxville on Saturday March 3.
Andrew Ogles, Deputy Director of the National Surrogate Program and Tennessee Victory Director for Newt 2012 noted, “Tennessee is excited to host Herman Cain and Jackie Gingrich Cushman for this tour. These two, along with Fred Thompson, Governor Rick Perry and so many others, are evidence of the breadth of support for Speaker Newt among people who know what it takes to do this job.”
Cain/Cushman Public Schedule for Tennessee Bus Tour:
Friday 3/2 – FRANKLIN, TN
7:00pm Central – Franklin City Club, public reception / rally
130 9th Ave South, Franklin Tn 37064
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Saturday 3/3 – CHATTANOOGA, TN
9:30am – 10:00am Eastern – Chattanooga: VIP Kick Off at Gingrich Head Quarters (Meet n Greet / Load Bus)
1 Park Place, Lee Hwy, Ste 300 Chattanooga TN
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
10:15am – 11:15am Eastern – Chattanooga: Rally at The Car Barn (Rally with Press)
6721 Heritage Business Court, Chattanooga, TN 37421
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
11:30am – 12:00pm Eastern – Chattanooga: Tennessee Valley Sportsman Gun Show at the Alhambra Shrine (Drop In / Meet n Greet)
1000 Alhambra Drive, Chattanooga, TN 37421
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Saturday 3/3 – CLEVELAND, TN
1:00pm Eastern – Cleveland TN – Public Rally at Lee University open to general public
1120 North Ocoee Street · Cleveland, TN 37320 (Lecture Hall)
Contact: Jarrod Casteel TN State Chair Students with Newt e: jcaste00@leeu.edu c: 423-313-2835
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Saturday 3/3 – KNOXVILLE, TN
5:30pm Eastern – Tennessee Conservative Union Reagan Day Dinner
401 West Summit Hill Drive, Knoxville, TN
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC